The Spirit of Smaug
by santeria
Summary: It is the Age of Men, but Smaug lingers on. [A Sherlock/Hobbit crossover]


**A/N:** For some reason I feel like the Middle Earth era occurred a long time before the modern day. Just go with it.

**The Spirit of Smaug**

It is the Age of Men. The Eldar have long since migrated to the West, the Wizards' powers have waned to almost unnoticeable parlour tricks, and the halflings disappeared into their holes many years ago. The Orcs and their fell masters have passed into the realm of legend, and the dragons followed them. Yet not all traces of the old world are gone; some things are too powerful to fade away. Sauron's hate and lust for power lives on, evident in the genocides and massacres carried out by tyrannical individuals. Other humans display remnants of the grace, quiet bravery, and strong charisma of Galadriel, Celeborn, or Thranduil. And every once in a while, the eyes of Gandalf the Grey can be seen peering from under the brows of a quiet hermit or a great sage.

Smaug lingers as well. His draconian body has rotted away, spent after many years hiding in the mountains of Scotland, biding time. His spirit lives on, searching for new vessels to call home. Once, he briefly inhabited a Komodo dragon, but he found its mind too simple to bear and its body too ponderous for his taste. He abandoned the beast, and soon after found himself in the body of a Man.

The Man was intelligent. His limbs were strong, his legs fast, his hands skilled. He could build fire, shoot a gun, speak with a silver tongue. From that time on, Smaug always inhabits Men.

It is a few thousand years into the Age of Men, when the skies are filled with planes and the cities are filled with metal and cars, when the wandering Smaug comes across the boy. The boy is very young, a bit wiry for Smaug's liking, but his blue eyes are cold and quick. He is quite an odd child, odd enough that none will notice if Smaug takes up residence within him. His arrogance and cruel wit quickly begin to manifest themselves in the boy's behavior, leaving him with no friends and few distractions from his hobbies. The boy is stunningly intelligent, extremely observant, and fascinated with morbid things. Smaug decides he is comfortable with the boy, and he decides to settle into this human—this Sherlock Holmes—for good.

Sherlock grows but Smaug remains the same. Sometimes Smaug gets restless, weary of seeing the world through human eyes, and at those times Sherlock paces and growls and spends sleepless nights meandering around London. His blue eyes pick out signs and patterns, memorise minutiae; he is looking for an answer to whatever plagues him, and, finding none, he buries himself in his studies.

Then one day, Smaug's world is thrown off kilter. Sherlock has gotten the notion that he needs a flatmate (a plan for which Smaug cares little), and then the door to the lab opens and in walks a short, fair-haired man with dark eyes and a crooked gait. Seeing the man through Sherlock's eyes, Smaug sees a war veteran hungry for adventure; nice but not terribly interesting. Looking with his own eyes, Smaug notices something familiar, a remnant of the old world lurking inside. Smaug wants to study the man, and Sherlock bends unknowingly to Smaug's will and invites the man to room with him. So John Watson is welcomed into Sherlock's and Smaug's home and life, and that is when it all changes.

It doesn't take Smaug long to pinpoint what drew him to John. He sees that a great deal of bravery and strength is packed into John's small frame. John is a bit bumbling, yet is somehow streetwise; he is daring, loyal to a fault, and brilliant at flattery. Smaug soon realises that John reminds him amazingly of the halfling who entered Erebor so long ago and initiated Smaug's downfall. The little Barrel-Rider upon whom Smaug has ruminated many times.

To his chagrin, Smaug's interest in John continues. He is so distracted that at first he doesn't notice the odd changes happening in Sherlock. The Man observes John intensely, laughs at John's jokes, watches horrible telly at John's bidding. By the time Smaug fully comprehends what is happening and attempts to regain control, Sherlock's affection for John has grown extremely strong. Smaug tries to order Sherlock to rid himself of John, but Sherlock does not comply. Smaug howls and rages in protest as Sherlock leaps from a roof in order to protect John. Smaug sulks as Sherlock hunts down Moriarty's men one by one; Sherlock pines for tea, his flat, his skull, and especially for John.

Eventually Sherlock returns to his flat and his friend, and Smaug settles back into his normal life. Now, when Smaug looks at John through Sherlock's eyes, he sees an irreplaceable friend and partner. And sometimes, when Smaug looks at John with his own eyes, he sees the Barrel-Rider peering back, and at those times Smaug pulls back behind Sherlock's eyes, and he wonders.


End file.
